Thursday is Thanksgiving in the United States. As we’re looking forward to spending time with family and friends, I think it’s important not to lose sight of the true meaning of the holiday: a time to count one’s blessings.
I keep a gratitude journal: each night before I go to bed, I list three things I was grateful for that day. Gratitude is a powerful force. It can shift your mood and your thoughts from a place of scarcity to a place of abundance and joy. Gratitude is about being in the present moment, and appreciating what’s around you.
Several years ago, I started my tradition of making a “Thanksgiving ABC’s” list. Some of the items on the list repeat year after year, others are new. Here’s this year’s list:
A: Allegra
B: Buckley, for the love and joy she brought, and for how she changed my life
C: Cats, of course!
D: Dark chocolate
E: Eating out – one of my great pleasures in life
F: Friends
G: Google, because I use it every day, all day long
H: my home
I: my iPhone
J: Joy
K: my Kindle
L: Lebkuchen (a type of German Christmas cookie)
M: Marzipan (we’ve got a food theme going on here, don’t we!)
N: New York City, my favorite city in the world
O: Organic products
P: Purring
Q: Quiet reflection – it’s essential for my mental well being
R: Ruby
S: Sun puddles – I’m very much like a cat when it comes to seeking out the sun
T: Tortitude
U: Uber, because it’s made travel so easy
V: Veterinarians, for all they do to make cats’ lives better
W: My daily walks
X: X-mas. Even though I’m not crazy about this abbreviation of Christmas, I couldn’t think of anything else that starts with X, and I do love Christmas!
Y: You – our readers!
Z: the Zoomies – it’s what I call it when Ruby races through the house like a crazy kitten for no reason at all
What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?
What a great list. I’m grateful for my 2 furbabies and my husband. Also the rest of my family. My doctors that are finally figuring out what is wrong and fixing things. And you for all the help you give everyone.
That is a great list of things to be thankful for.
What a wonderful list! Thank you so much for sharing. May I add one that I (along with Anya and Oscar) am grateful for:
I. Ingrid King! For helping this first-time kitty guardian learn how to take excellent care of my two “best friends.”
(I’m grateful for my iPhone as well, but I thought this needed to be said! We are all so thankful for you!)
Aww, thank you, Will!
this is a most pawesome, pawesome list!!!!! We are thankful for so many things, but as always, we are thankful to have YOU and the girls as some of our most cherished furiends! Love, Caren and Cody
And we’re grateful for your friendship, Caren and Cody!
I haven’t been writing in my gratitude journal, and I definitely feel the difference in the energy in my life. Gratitude is such a powerful force and we all should use it more often. This Thanksgiving (aside from the usual things like family and health), I’m grateful for the new course my life has taken over the past year. I’ve met so many wonderful people and learned so many new things. I”m looking forward to what the coming year has to bring.
~Dawn~
It’s amazing what gratitude can bring into your life, isn’t it, Dawn.
Ingrid.. my mom never liked the abbreviation “X-Mas” either until I came upon this bit of history info. In Roman times when Christianity was persecuted, “X” was one of the codes for “Christ” when an early Christian wanted to mark a meeting place so other followers would know where to enter. They also used the “sign of the fish” which you see on auto bumpers nowadays. Of course, there’s also the fish with legs, which denotes Darwin, for a giggle!
I had never heard that explanation, Ann – thank you for sharing!